Title

Understanding the microbial biogeography of ancient human dentitions to guide study design and interpretation

Authors

Zandra Fagernäs, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Domingo C. Salazar-Garcia, Universitat de València; Grupo de Investigación en Prehistoria IT-1223-19 (UPV-EHU)/IKERBASQUE-Basque Foundation for Science; University of Cape Town
Maria Hadar Uriarte, Universidad de Murcia
Azucena Avilés Fernández, Universidad de Murcia
Amanda G. Henry, Leiden University
Joaquín Lomba Maurandi, Universidad de Murcia
Andrew T. Ozga, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
Irina M. Velsko, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Christina Warinner, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History; Friedrich Schiller University; Harvard University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-3-2022

Publication Title

FEMS Microbes

Keywords

ancient DNA, microbiome, dental calculus, metagenomics, biogeography, archaeology

ISSN

2633-6685

Volume

3

Issue/No.

xtac006

Abstract

The oral cavity is a heterogeneous environment, varying in factors such as pH, oxygen levels, and salivary flow. These factors affect the microbial community composition and distribution of species in dental plaque, but it is not known how well these patterns are reflected in archaeological dental calculus. In most archaeological studies, a single sample of dental calculus is studied per individual and is assumed to represent the entire oral cavity. However, it is not known if this sampling strategy introduces biases into studies of the ancient oral microbiome. Here, we present the results of a shotgun metagenomic study of a dense sampling of dental calculus from four Chalcolithic individuals from the southeast Iberian peninsula (ca. 4500–5000 BP). Interindividual differences in microbial composition are found to be much larger than intraindividual differences, indicating that a single sample can indeed represent an individual in most cases. However, there are minor spatial patterns in species distribution within the oral cavity that should be taken into account when designing a study or interpreting results. Finally, we show that plant DNA identified in the samples is likely of postmortem origin, demonstrating the importance of including environmental controls or additional lines of biomolecular evidence in dietary interpretations.

Comments

© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of FEMS.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

NSUWorks Citation

Fagernäs, Zandra; Domingo C. Salazar-Garcia; Maria Hadar Uriarte; Azucena Avilés Fernández; Amanda G. Henry; Joaquín Lomba Maurandi; Andrew T. Ozga; Irina M. Velsko; and Christina Warinner. 2022. "Understanding the microbial biogeography of ancient human dentitions to guide study design and interpretation." FEMS Microbes 3, (xtac006). doi:10.1093/femsmc/xtac006.

ORCID ID

0000-0003-4540-7106

ResearcherID

D-1147-2018

DOI

10.1093/femsmc/xtac006